Relenting a Bit, Beijing Plans Funeral for an Ousted Leader

By JOSEPH KAHN

Published: January 21, 2005

The Chinese authorities will hold a low-key funeral service for Zhao Ziyang, the purged Communist Party chief, and have given permission for his burial in a cemetery reserved for senior party officials, a government spokesman and members of his family said Thursday.

The decision signals a softening of the government's position on how to handle Mr. Zhao's death. Top officials previously banned nearly all news coverage and denied Mr. Zhao the usual honors accorded to senior leaders when they die.

It remains unclear whether the party will present a eulogy at the funeral, as would be customary.

Mr. Zhao, who died Monday at the age of 85, lost power in 1989 after he opposed the use of force against democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square and spent nearly 16 years under house arrest.

The authorities have scaled back the police presence at Mr. Zhao's house in central Beijing, allowing more mourners to visit the memorial shrine that his family set up there. At least two popular Web-based discussion sites began allowing people to post comments about him.

But the comments were limited to hollow messages of remorse that did not mention the 1989 crackdown or the fact that Mr. Zhao had held two of China's highest offices as prime minister from 1980 to 1987 and Communist Party general secretary from 1987 to 1989.

The moves suggest that Vice President Zeng Qinghong, who party officials say was appointed by President Hu Jintao to handle the funeral arrangements, is seeking to dilute criticism that the party has diminished Mr. Zhao at a time when it should be recognizing his contributions.

Cursory funeral services for popular leaders who fell from favor have set off public protests in the past. Some intellectuals, Hong Kong legislators and overseas Chinese have accused the government of violating the Confucian code of honoring ancestors, and of trying to rewrite history.

''This is a small concession by the government,'' said a friend of the family, who asked to remain anonymous. ''They do not want to be vulnerable to charges that they dishonored a man of Zhao's standing.'' The cabinet issued a statement on Thursday saying the government would hold a ''farewell service for the body'' of Mr. Zhao.

Such a ceremony is the equivalent of a funeral service, but it is likely to lack the pomp of a full state memorial service. It is unclear whether any top officials will attend.

''We will follow this format for Comrade Zhao Ziyang, who was a veteran member of our party,'' the statement said.

Friends of the family said the service would take place at Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery in western Beijing, where many senior party veterans are buried. It is China's version of Arlington National Cemetery. A date for the service was not announced.

The authorities also indicated that they are prepared to allow Bao Tong, Mr. Zhao's closest aide and the most senior Chinese official jailed in connection with the 1989 student demonstrations, to attend the funeral service, a member of Mr. Bao's family said.

When Mr. Bao and his wife, Jiang Zongcao, tried to leave their home to visit Mr. Zhao's memorial shrine on Tuesday, plainclothes security officers forcibly stopped them. Mrs. Jiang was pushed to the ground and had to be hospitalized with an injured vertebra, family members said.

Even if the party goes ahead with its more relaxed approach to the funeral service, there is no indication of a posthumous rehabilitation of Mr. Zhao. The state-controlled television has still made no mention of his death. People's Daily, the main Communist Party newspaper, recorded his death in a one-line bulletin buried deep inside the paper, calling him a comrade but not including any of the titles he held before the purge.

Although party officials said the planning for how to handle Mr. Zhao's funeral began two years ago, the way it is being carried out appears to reflect some lingering uncertainty. Though they do not want to be seen as flagrantly disrespectful, officials also do not want to hint that they may review the events of 1989 by granting Mr. Zhao the state's highest funeral honors.

Photo: Wang Yannan, center, daughter of Zhao Ziyang, received a visitor who paid his respects at the home where Mr. Zhao lived under house arrest. (Photo by Ng Han Guan/Associated Press)